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astromech checklist

This was originally just a random post I made in 2008 but it got so many hits I decided to make a dedicated page and keep it up to date for fellow droid action figure collectors. I update it whenever I come across new release info, and rely on tips/corrections in the comments at the bottom of this page.

After The Phantom Menace came out Hasbro really got on the ball. The designs and paint schemes became more accurate to the characters, and they figured out they can take the same droid sculpt and sell it to fans over and over without batting an eye by simply changing the colors and maybe a gimmick here or there. It worked fine, because that’s essentially how the droids of Star Wars were made… and it unleashed a flood of new bots in recent years. Disregarding R2D2 completely – as well as the small handful of droids released before 2000 that have since been remade to the new standard (meaning better) – here is a comprehensive list of all the astromech droid variations out there for the obsessive collectors like myself:

Power of the Jedi (2000-2002)

R4-M9dark green vertical stripes on white lampshade

R2-Q5copper on black dome

R3-T7
(AotC Preview wave)lime green on clear dome over white

Disney Star Tours Exclusive

R3-D3red and blue on clear dome over blue on white

R4-M9
(not the same droid as the PotJ R4-M9)turquoise on white lampshade

R5-D2red on white bucket

Star Wars “Saga” (2002-2004)

R1-G4
(not a normal astromech)yellow stripes on dark green

R3-A2
(in the Battle of Hoth multipack)orange on clear dome over white

Disney Droid Factory (2012)How do I even approach this… someone had the awesome idea to put Build-a-Droid stations in the Tatooine Traders gift shop at Disneyland. (Possibly other Disney parks too?) This means bins of droid parts where you mix and match to make your own astromechs, but technically no new specific droids are officially being released. According to well informed sources there are plans for 25 different heads (R2s through R9s, domes & buckets & lampshades oh my!), 13 bodies in assorted styles, 10 matching leg sets (that you don’t have to match), 5 middle legs that will jive with the sides, and 8 hats (…hats?!) for a total of 71 separate pieces in all. That opens this up to an obscene number of combinations if you don’t care about matching color schemes and symmetric parts. But I do. There are 15 unique domes shown in the promotional images so far, so to me this equates to 15 new unnamed droids with no official color scheme for each. But considering you can build existing droids with the parts, it might be fewer overall. I’d file this under “one of everything please” except at a minimum of $10 per complete droid… yikes. That mouse is devious. Update:This poster was given out at Celebration VI and shows the parts available.

Now, a quick explanation of the droids that we have been made into figures:
R1 units look …stupid. They’re huge in comparison to the other droids and thankfully only one was made.
R2 units are the standard one you’ll see, they typically have a silver dome like R2D2.
R3 units are pretty much the same stylistically as R2s, but with a clear dome instead.
R4 units usually have what I call a “lampshade” style head – a faceted six or eight sided cone.
R5 units on the other hand have a smooth truncated cone that looks like an upside down bucket.
R7 units are strictly Expanded Universe droids (not seen in the movies). They’ve got R2 style domes, but triangular eyes and different panels on the body.
R8 units don’t seem all that special. Only one has been made so far and it just looks like an R2 unit.
No other R-series droids have been made into action figures yet, but R6s & R9s are on their way.

That’s all just the “rule of thumb” pattern though- several of the droids listed above don’t fit the naming convention because, simply put, George Lucas doesn’t give a damn about continuity. Don Bies, essentially the man in charge of the droids in the prequels, even confronted him about giving an R2 unit an R4 designation in Attack of the Clones. GLs response was basically “well, you can figure out something to explain it for the fans”. His reason for bucking the trend was as simple as he liked the R4 name better but wanted a round dome for it. It’s his franchise right?

R2-A6 is correct, R2-A5 was a typo on my end.
R3-M3 is the true name for R3-O1, not sure why the preview slides were labeled wrong.
R4-MP is a mystery to me, got any further info on that one?
R4-P44 was just missing from my list at the time, I was slacking off too much.
R4-X1 is another mystery, maybe you’re thinking of the upcoming R2-X2?
R5-X2 is the remote controlled one, not a regular action figure, so I missed it completely. I’ll add it now.
R5-C7 was missing like R4-P44, so it’s there now too.

Rebelscum.com show in their archives lists a droid as R3-T17. this droid is simular to R3-T7. The difference is R3-T17 is a little dirty while R3-T7 (Power of the Jedi-Sneak Preview) has the electric bolt around it. I have searched for the R3-T17 but cannot find it any where. Any clues as to it’s existance?

That’s just a typo on their site. The only mention I can find of R3-T17 links to R3-T7’s page. The figure itself is weathered to look dirty and came with a blue electric bolt wrapped around it, but that’s removable.

The picture that is posted above your list has two things that I am most curious about.The first thing is the purple droid that has binoculars on top of it, is that Mace Windu’s droid? If so is it still in existence (with the binoculars I mean), The other thing is the one the purple one faces (mostly white with what looks like blue markings) is that R2-D2? What I am asking is can you identify those for me? Thank you and I greatly appreciate the help.

Good to know. Also, I like that they decided to rerelease it with the accurate colors in that multipack, even though it resulted in alternate version of the same droid. Original flavor and special edition I suppose. Split personalities. Evil twin from a different dimension. Something like that.

Just a little update, I would like to tell you thanks for all the info you provided here because in a few more days I will have every driod listed here(and then some).Because of all you provided I was able to complete the whole entire list.I had alot of fun searching for all of them and for the best prices on the net,it was hard at times but all the money spent and the time to locate them was well worth it. Once again I want to say thanks for all of your info.

Great list, I to am an astromech collector and completist. I would like to suggest a couple of revisions myself. First of all I do not see the original Episode 1 R2-B1. This one differs from the 30th anniversary repaint as it has a shiny silver head. Second is a R4-P17 repaint from the Legacy collection Kamino Conflict battle pack. This is the same same as the Revenge of the Sith figure, just with a slightly cleaner paint job.

I have three more suggestions which are all R2-D2 repaints. I understand if you don’t like these suggestions because I don’t collect R2-D2 figures unless they are drastically different, which I believe these are enough to mention. They are the comic pack R2, Saga1 Toys R Us exclusive silver R2, and the 30th Anniversary McQuarrie R2.

Thinking toward the future I see a Disney exclusive Star Tours Jedi Mickey with a really cool R2-MK figure. Also, a clone wars R4-P17 similar to R3-S6. Lastly, two Toys R Us exclusive figure sets will each contain an R2-T7 and R5-P9. These are all the new mechs I could find from the Rebelscum Celebration coverage, but would love to hear of any I missed. Happy collecting!!!!!!!!

Howdy Don,
Blitzkriegtrench from Rebelscum here,
Just re-read your opening paragraph and really think you should list those pre-2000 Astrodroids for a more comprehensive list.
Just my 2 Republic Credits.

Two things:
1. No pre-2000 droid hasn’t been rereleased already, so every droid is accounted for on the list, just not every version of every droid.
2. I’m not exactly opposed to adding them, I consider it redundant and not worth the effort. I’d be happy to include them if you feel like coming up with the list and descriptions though.

Hi, I am looking to start collecting the Astromech based droid because it is a really interesting droid that conveys emotion without any face or expression aside from a beep. That aside, I’d like your thought as to the best R2D2 version that would best match the up coming variations of different Astromech characters I will need to collect. I want to make sure they all match without fail. Can you help me? Thanks for the list, I will be using it to get my collection under way.

Hard to really say what the best would be. My personal favorite is the POTF version with Tatooine weathering and the restraining bolt on the body (but unfortunately no center leg option) because it included the mini holographic Princess Leia.

Whistler is a nickname, not a designation, and that’s already on the list above anyways since that’s what they went with for the packaging. I’ll add Xeno though since I didn’t know about that one. Thanks.

R5-D8 is now out there. I think its Jek Porkins Droid from the Pilots Multipak. Looks alot like R5-D4. Some minor changes like head stripes Legs oreintated different and changing up of Blue and Silver Highlights.

I’m on vacation right now and went to Tatooine Traders @WDW twice in two weeks. But they only offered 3 to 4 different colors of each part. Most of the bodies were yellow on white, but the middle legs are available only in red, green or blue. Does not even match if you’re color blind :)
In fact you cannot build the droid you’re looking for – you have to go with what’s available and that’s very little. So for me this Droid Factory is a bit disappointing.
What are your experiences here? Was it just bad luck on my side?

I haven’t had a chance to check it out for myself, but that sounds about on par with what I expected. Good idea handled less than ideally. Would be fantastic if they offered a “one of everything” pack but I think we all know the likelihood of that happening.

Hello there!
I really appreciate this page and the up-to-date list of astromechs.
Plus I want to share an amount of photos and collect even more (photos and information). This is why I set up a facebook page dedicated to astromechs.
I’d be honored if you’d pay a visit: https://www.facebook.com/Astromechs
Feel free to comment on the page or contribute own content to it.

I wanted to thank you (my wife would blame you, LOL) because your checklist was the spark that made me start my own astromech droid collection just a year ago. And so, I wanted to share with you and your visitors The Astromech Collection page (https://www.facebook.com/astromechcollection), an English-Spanish fan page dedicated to our little friends :)

Hey great list – do you think you can tell me a good place to get droid figures in the UK? My first instinct was Amazon and eBay but Amazon only has a handful (and they are so overpriced) and eBay has a lot more but they are all from Macau. Would be helpful, as I want to get into collecting.

I don’t know if you’ve put it up (or if it qualifies) but the new Star Wars “Black” series has new scaled up highly detailed figures available. The new R2-D2 is 3 3/4″ tall (hence the question about qualification for this list) and there are 2 of them that I know of so far.

The series 1 #4 figure has 7 attachments. Three of the dome top panels can be removed and replaced with;
1.) Luke’s light saber
2.) Raised radar/sensor stalk (seen at Hoth rebel base when R2 is scanning for Luke and Han)
3.) Raised periscope sensor stalk (seen sticking up out of the swamp water on Degobah)
The next four panels are actually 2 sets of the leg accent panels. One set is just the standard blue accents over the white shafts. The others are the blue accents with the leg jets extended (but with no flames). The body of the droid has a rotating dome that raises and lowers the third leg into the torso. Additionally the two side panels open and extend R2’s grasping claw on the left and his computer control probe on the right. It’s AWESOME!

The Series 2 #9 figure is less impressive. It is simply a 3 3/4″ scaled R2 with a central leg that can be raised and lowered and a set of extended flaming flight jets that can be snapped onto the leg shafts.

Well, I’ve intentionally left all R2D2 releases off the list since it was more of an “everyone else” project, but I’m sure it won’t be too long before we get a different droid in the smaller Black Series waves. The 3 3/4 is just the scale though, these droids measure around 2 1/2 to fit in with the human sized figures in their corresponding lines. The 6″ line is a whole separate beast and I don’t see it going far enough to get any astromechs besides R2. We’ll see though. Thanks for bringing it up though.

DonSolo – great post. Are you thinking of adding the dome from Yoda’s Jedi Starfighter? Apparently, it is BAD compatible.

For anyone interested in the Disney Droid Factory parts, the novelty of all 25 domes is summarized below. Comments are on the uniqueness of the domes.

R9 domes – new sculpt and thus all three are new

R8 domes – new sculpt and thus all three are new

R7 domes – based on triangular-eye BAD dome:
Yellow dome – new color scheme
Black dome – has yellow highlights; the black-domed R7-ZO has greenish highlights
Silver with blue highlights dome – very similar to R7-T1, except this dome has black highlights where T1 has dark blue, and T1 has much more dark coloring around the four ports/buttons/whatever on the lower left side of its face

R6 domes – new sculpt and thus all three are new

R5 domes – based on R5 BAD dome (there is even a slight indent where the antennae socket had been):
Black dome – I cannot find any difference between the paint job here and that on R5-J1. Happy for someone to note a difference that I missed
Red highlights dome – very similar to R5-D4; the difference is that this dome’s second red stripe is painted on top of the dome, while R5-D4’s is painted around the very base of the wall of the bucket, so to speak. Is this really even a difference?
Green highlights dome – new color scheme

R4 domes – based on the R4 BAD dome:
Green dome – very similar to R4-J1; J1’s paint apps are just a little more detailed
Purple dome – new color scheme
Blue dome – new color scheme

R3 domes – based on the R3 BAD dome:
Purple highlights – new color scheme
Red highlights – this dome has silver highlights around the main eye and red(ish) coloring directly beneath the eye. There are no R3 droids with solely red markings on the dome. But since this dome’s coloring could look orange at first glance, let’s compare it to R3-A2. The Saga collection of that droid has orange highlights around the main eye and nothing beneath. The BAD version of R3-A2 does not have any coloring around the main eye or beneath it

R2 domes – you know the drill by now:
Red/Yellow/Blue/Green highlights on silver dome – The difference between these four domes and the many very similar droids, R2-D2 foremost among them, is that the Disney droid factory domes do not have highlights around the double port/button/eye on the (droid’s) right side. A very fine difference, if it is even that. For what it’s worth, the droids with which I compared these domes:
Red – CB-3D, R2-A3, R2-M5, R2-R9
Yellow – R2-C4, R2-B1 (the TAC version has the same paint scheme, but a gray dome)
Blue – R2-D2 (Black Series and Royal Starship Droids versions)
Green – R2-N3, R2-A6 (like the Disney dome, R2-A6 lacks green coloring around the double port, but it also lacks green coloring on the panels immediately left and right of the double port)
Silver highlights on red dome – similar to R2-L3, but that droid’s dome has much more detail; very similar to R4-C7, except this dome has a silver band around the bottom while C7 has a dark band; R4-P17’s base coloring is noticeably darker than this dome’s red